CHAPTER 50

Summary

• The chapter opens in Gwendolyn Gardens estate, introduced to Digby and his friend Cromwell who share a nightly drink as a ritual. Digby is the estate's owner, he bought it fourteen years prior and names it after his mother.
• Digby reflects on the difficulties of managing the estate, which primarily produces tea but also coffee and rubber. He also regrets that the estate is quite remote, causing him to feel lonely at times.
• They discuss issues with the estate, such as a landslide which has cut off the estate's access to a crucial rice stock.
• Besides managing the estate, Digby also runs a rudimentary medical clinic with the help of an addicted compounder named Skaria. One morning, a cart rushes to the clinic. A man named Kora demands medical help for his wife, Lizzi, who had been unintentionally stabbed in her pregnant belly in a fit of delusion due to Kora's high nicotine consumption. The baby's hand was visible from the wound.
• Digby successfully completes a makeshift surgery to patch the wound up, ensuring the baby can only exit through the normal birth channel. However, it can only be a temporary measure and advises Lizzi to give birth in a hospital. Lizzi thanks Digby and tells him how they had to leave their home due to Kora's debt problems.
• Unable to accurately diagnose Kora's condition, Digby leaves the woman to attend her husband. Despite the chaotic circumstances and the dire condition of the mother, Digby reassuringly comments that the baby should be fine, even jokingly dubbing the unborn child "Lenin Evermore".